Generally, products received for repairs at a service facility are first diagnosed by technicians to identify the problem(s). This usually requires initial testing in order to accurately identify the problem. Sometimes, the owner may share information regarding previous maintenance work that has been done on the product, before repairs begin. However, complete product history may be hard to come by because previous service records may have been misplaced or thrown away. Additionally, the owner of the product is unlikely to remember or even know the exact nature of previous maintenance work performed on the product. When the product is presented to the repair facility, time and money must be invested to obtain the current status of the product. Even then, not all the needed information may be available.
Additionally, once a product enters a service facility, it is common for the product to go through a series of specialized technicians who handle different aspects of maintenance. Even within the facility, it may be difficult to decipher what tasks have, and have not, been completed from one technician to another due to inefficient recordkeeping. To add to the problem, the owner of the product is usually told that repairs can take, for example, up to 6-8 weeks after the product is received. During this time the owner has no information as to the status of their maintenance request.
Some service facilities have been known to use the barcode mechanism to identify products. Barcodes, however, are limited in the information they provide and are incapable in physically tracking the product. Another disadvantage presented by barcodes is that they must be physically scanned using a barcode scanner, and the resulting number provides limited standardized information. Furthermore, barcodes may be easily destroyed or damaged, preventing scanning and/or reading.
Radio Frequency Identifiers (RFIDs) on the other hand, allow a product to be tracked using RFID tags associated with the product or object. The information held by an RFID tag may be more extensive than a barcode. RFID tags work in combination with RFID transceivers which can exchange data with the RFID tag via wireless radio communications. This allows the RFID tag to be placed anywhere on the product, including hard to reach places.
There are typically two types of RFID tags, passive and active. Passive tags do not have a power supply of their own. Therefore, an electrical current supplied by the antenna of an RFID transceiver may activate the tag so that it can begin exchanging data. By virtue of its low power consumption, passive tags usually have a short read range from about 10 mm up to about 6 meters. Active tags, however, have their own power supply and may have a longer read range, but are also larger and more expensive.
In the past, RFID tags have been used for example, in automotive vehicle service systems. For instance, an RFID tag attached to a tire may provide a trained mechanic information such as, current tire alignment. This system, however, lacks the ability to electronically record servicing in an orderly and efficient manner while at the same time sharing the most current servicing information with the vehicle owner.
Accordingly, a need remains for a system and method that can accurately and efficiently record and store maintenance procedures being performed at a remote servicing facility and share this information with the owner, while reducing the cost and time spent on performing the actual maintenance. It would also be beneficial to have repair history readily available with the product, in order to save time on initial testing and diagnosis.